Jakarta, Oct 30 (Antara) - Two weeks after the government announced its fourth economic policy package aimed at improving workers' welfare, thousands of workers took to the streets in Jakarta, Thursday, to protest a government regulation on wages.
At least 50 thousand workers representing various labor unions and workers' confederations across the country held rallies in protest against the government's new ruling on labor wages.
They asked for revocation of Government Regulation (PP) No. 78/2015 on Provincial Minimum Wage System (UMP), which was signed by President Joko Widodo last Friday (Oct 23). The PP No. 78/2015 is the legal basis to implement measures in the employment sector, that being one of the points contained in the fourth economic policy package announced by the government on October 15.
Based on the fourth economic policy package, the government will apply regulations on how to improve the welfare of workers through a formulated wage hike system to improve their social life and put in place a system to activate social dialogs at bipartite forums within companies.
The government's objective in regulating the employment sector is to increase wages to a rational level; facilitate job enhancement so that the unemployed can find jobs; and protect companies from losing business.
"In essence,the wage is a right that the workers and the employers have to decide. The state has put in place a minimum wage policy to protect workers from being forced to work at low wages, protect those who are not yet employed so that they can enter the workforce market and protect employers whose business should develop and job opportunities should increase," Manpower Minister H Hanif Dhakiri noted.
According to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the government's objectives not only include improving the welfare of workers but also providing job opportunities for those who have not yet got jobs.
"Please do not forget that besides being willing to improve the prosperity of workers, the government is also trying to facilitate creation of more jobs. If we continue to kick a fuss (demonstrations), then companies which that plan to start business and enhance the number of jobs will be discouraged to invest in the country," Kalla said even as thousands of workers staged rallies on Friday.
Referring to workers' rejection of the government's new ruling, Government Regulation No. 78/2015 on Wage, Kalla said workers have the right to reject it but the government also has the right to work out a regulation based on law.
"It is their right to accept or reject it. The government also has the right to make regulations based on law. But we have the same opinion about the need to improve the welfare of workers," he said.
After all, according to Kalla, the representatives of workers were part of the deliberation process for formulating Government Regulation Number 78 of 2015 on the labor wage system that had been issued.
"All related parties have been involved. There were representatives of laborers. The Remuneration Council is also a representative of the workers. It is impossible to involve all, one million people. Their aspirations have been met. It is not true if there is a claim saying that laborers were not involved," Kalla clarified at his vice presidential office on Friday.
He pointed out that the government and the workers' Remuneration Council have agreed to improve the workers' welfare.
About 50 thousand laborers held rallies in front of the State Palace to reject the government's new regulation on the wage system on Friday. They threatened to spend the night in front of the State Palace until the government withdrew its Regulation Number 78 of 2015.
"About 50 thousand workers from 40 labor confederations across the country have gathered on Friday at the National Monument (Monas) Square, Central Jakara. Some are still on the way to the rally sites," stated Heri, a member of the All Indonesian Workers Union Confederation (KSPSI) of Surabaya.
Workers' associations from all regions across the country have rejected Government Regulation Number 78 of 2015 on the wage system. The workers believe that the increase in wages would not improve their welfare as the nation will soon face the ASEAN Economic Community.
The workers said the new government's formula on the labor wage system annuls the Remuneration Council's participation in formulating the increase in the regional minimum wage as it had occurred in the previous years.
Chief Economic Minister Darmin Nasution noted recently that the formula for the salary hike is based on the monthly wage plus a percentage increase based on the rate of inflation and economic growth.
Nasution cited an example that if the inflation and economic growth this year are respectively five percent, the minimum monthly wage next year will be the amount of this year's minimum monthly wage plus 10 percent of this year's monthly salary.
Based on the policy package, the annual wage increase is formulated based on the formula: "minimum wage + (minimum wage x (inflation percentage + economic growth percentage))."
In the meantime, the demonstrators also rejected the minimum wage in Jakarta set by the local government at Rp3.1 million, claiming the amount was not enough to meet worker's decent living cost (KHL) standards.
"The provincial minimum wage is decided on the basis of a reference in the Government Regulation No. 78/2015 on the wage system. However, it should be reviewed by the representatives of the labor unions to see if the government has indeed decided the minimum wage amount based on the KHL components. If not, we will reject it because it does not meet our hopes," Yanti, a member of the Health and Pharmacy Workers Union Federation (FSP Farkes), said as she and her colleagues staged a demonstration at the National Monument (Monas) Square here on Friday.
Head of Jakarta's Manpower and Transmigration Service, Priyono, said the calculation of the minimum wage is based on the formula of national inflation rate + regional economic growth x the current year minimum wage rate. The result of this is added to the monthly minimum wage in the current year.
Sarman Simanjorang, a member of Jakarta's Remuneration Council from the business side said for fixing the minimum wage for 2017 and the years that follow, the minimum wage for the current year will be used, not based the KHL, as the basis of calculation.
However, all labor unions in Jakarta and its vicinity rejected the minimum wage set by the Jakarta government. ***4***(A014/INE/B003)DITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/Bustanuddin) 30-10-2015 21:32:1 |
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